INSPIRED BY THE WORDS OF THOMAS PAINE, the new nation’s leaders sought to resolve grievances with the government to allow the citizenry to live free from tyranny, while remaining true to the concepts of civil rights and individual liberty.

But James Madison, in his letter of October 24, 1787 to Thomas Jefferson, voiced concerns that have since been proven justified: “a majority … united by a common interest or a passion cannot be constrained from oppressing the minority.”

And in writing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson, guided by Paine’s “Common Sense,” laid out the grievances against the king — many of which have now been foisted upon us by our current rulers.

President Obama, with newfound empowerment from his recent victory, now may act without the constraints of seeking re-election. The result will be a more all-encompassing government ruled by those who favor state control.

Looking closer at Jefferson’s grievances, which the patriots were willing to die for, we see that we have now fallen into that which Madison feared: oppression by the majority abetted by a government which is now “but a necessary evil.”

One has to wonder if President Jefferson would have had the same response to the actions taken today by this administration and those who have enabled it. A look at the grievances and their contemporary parallels:

• “forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance” — The Justice Department has repeatedly fought actions by individual states, not just on immigration control but on photo ID laws ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court.

• “endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners” — Amnesty is now the agenda. Illegal residents are rarely deported by those pandering for votes. Our borders seemingly no longer serve the purpose intended.

• “obstructed the Administration of Justice” — Inspector General Gerald Walpin was fired for seeking criminal prosecution of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, an Obama supporter. J. Christopher Adams was forced from office for seeking actions against Black Panther militants for their intimidation of white voters in 2008. This year saw a return of this, as well as Republican poll watchers forcibly removed from polling stations. Members of the Justice Department Civil Rights Division have, as stated by Mr. Adams, “abetted wrongdoing and abandoned law-abiding citizens.” Statists have joined in a vendetta against Mr. Adams for daring to give voice to the injustices he witnessed.

• “erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people” — Obamacare provides for 16,000 new IRS agents to ensure our obedience. The president has appointed 43 “czars,” of which 33 were not subject to Senate approval. The EPA is now used as a tool to punish enemies of the state like Arch Coal, BP and Shell.

• “affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power” — In June 2011 the president overruled lawyers from the Justice Department and the Pentagon to arbitrarily declare his authority to continue the air war in Libya without congressional approval.

• “combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution” — UN Agenda 21 is being implemented across the country, with more than 500 participating cities. Some members of the Supreme Court even look to foreign laws for guidance; Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “I frankly don’t understand all the brouhaha … about referring to foreign law.”

• “imposing Taxes on us without our Consent” — Obamacare was passed against the will of the people on the grounds that it was not a tax, but the Supreme Court ruled otherwise; the statists celebrated. The law was not even read by many members of Congress who voted to impose their will upon us.

• “depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury” — For the first time in history a president has authorized the detention, without trial, of people suspected of aiding and abetting terrorism, an action strongly opposed in the Senate and by the ACLU. Basseley Youssef, arrested in the dead of night by police, acting at the request of federal authorities, is accused of making a film that sparked the attack on our embassy in Benghazi, Libya — a charge that has now been fully disproven. Yet Mr. Youssef remains jailed on charges of “parole violation.”

• “excited domestic insurrections amongst us.” — Last year the Occupy Wall Street crowd, encouraged by Democrat leaders including Nancy Pelosi and Democrat-favoring organizations such as MoveOn.org, willfully interfered with the civil rights of others while committing hundreds of illegal acts throughout the country. In Oakland, 400 protesters were arrested on a variety of charges including vandalism, theft and sexual assault, yet only eight faced charges; the cases were dropped against the others.

By their concurrence with the above actions, those who enable government control as preferred policy have fallen guilty to abetting government tyranny over the minority.

In “Common Sense,” Thomas Paine described this reasoning as “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”

The focus of the government today seems to be an increase toward largesse, looking for ways to provide financial support while failing to encourage personal responsibility. This represents a very generous attitude on the part of the electorate.

Yet how can one justify generosity toward others when said generosity is enforced by threat of law?

Thomas Jefferson expressed the unacceptability of tyranny in the Declaration of Independence, a document whose importance was summarized by Abraham Lincoln: “our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that ‘all men are created equal’.”

Today Mr. Jefferson would likely not be pleased with the nation we have become, our liberty eroded, equality set aside and preferences risen to the forefront.

The direction taken by those leading our nation not only lacks common sense, it is also a departure from “Common Sense.”

It is imperative for the future of our nation that we decide now: Are we to be a nation based on the Constitution, or are we to be a nation based on forced largesse of the minority by an overreaching majority?

A study of history clearly shows where Madison, Jefferson and Paine would have stood. Unfortunately, history seems to not be part of the curriculum.

Dennis Lund graduated from California State University-Long Beach with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1981 and has resided in Benicia since 1992. This piece was originally published in American Thinker.